I don’t know if its the ’best combo’ but I am very happy with my Merrill Audio Veritas monoblocks in tandem with a Prima Luna Dialogue Premium pre amp... The end result is very musical and powerful.
I do believe the tube pre/class D SS amp combo to be a great approach. Too many permutations possible across budget range to declare one as 'best'. Also 'best' is system and personal preference dependent.
No claim that this is best (or that identifying "best" is even possible) but am running a 6H30, EZ80-rectified tube pre-amp (Consonance Reference 50) into a Merrill Audio Taranis power amp. "Musical and powerful" are good adjectives for the sound from the Totem Forest speakers being driven. fwiw - cabling is mostly Morrow Audio ICs with Clear Day double shotgun speaker cables; a mix of Cullen (amp) Shunyata (pre-amp) & Pangea (sources) power cords.
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